The other change this year is that the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce is involved in hosting and organizing the event. All of the exhibitors are pleased that the Chamber has come forward ready and willing to help with this fun event.

As we have done every year the Home and Garden show has been held, Northfield Construction Company will have a display booth at the show. Please stop by and visit us. We are having a drawing for $25 of Chamber dollars at our booth. We also have another $25 of Chamber dollars being given out as a door prize. It should be another excellent show—-come visit.

This morning I helped a group of volunteers haul city picnic tables to the square for the event. If you’ve ever moved picnic tables you know how bulky they are to lift, move and transport. But we got the job done…..now enjoy!!!

After we ate we had a couple of demonstrations. The first one dealt with repairing existing spalled concrete. Spalling typically occurs when moisture gets into cured concrete and freezes, thereby putting pressure on the cement and rock mixture and pushing up flakes. The flakes come loose from driving or walking and you end up with a pock mark in the finished concrete surface. The material Cemstone demonstrated today is used to repair these blemishes in the concrete. It is a product that can be knifed in place which avoids getting on hands and knees to trowel it into place.

The second demonstration was on applying colored sealant to existing concrete. This is done by mixing a combination sealer and colorant, spraying it on the concrete and then using a roller to provide a final finish. The end result is a refinished concrete slab that looks good and should provide additional years of service.

The course was organized and sponsored by a partnership between Lamperts in Northfield and Andersen Windows. The course was taught by an instructor from Connor Institute from Baltimore, Maryland. I thought the instructor was excellent. He knew his material well and kept the 8+ hour day moving along. It helped that the instructor had taught middle school for about 30 years before working for Connor.

Lead is a big issue in the construction industry. On April 22 of this year any contractor doing work on most houses constructed before 1978 will be required to have a Certified Renovator in charge of the work. The vast majority of America’s housing stock was created prior to 1978 so it is important for a company like Northfield Construction Company to have properly trained personnel on staff ready to properly deal with issues related to lead on our projects.

We spent the day reviewing the dangers of lead in homes, especially learning about problems children have living around lead. About 310,000 children in America each year have health complications related to exposure to lead. We leaned what to do before work begins, how to set up lead containment areas, how to properly clean up during and after construction, and proper record keeping techniques.

Several times during the day we worked together in small groups with ‘hands on’ projects related to sampling for the presence of lead in materials and setting up lead containment enclosures. I was amazed to learn what small amounts of lead can be damaging to humans. The two most common ways people contact lead is by inhaling dust containing lead particles, or by ingesting it through transferring lead to the mouth by eating, smoking, etc.

Our goal at Northfield Construction Company is always to keep work areas safe for our clients and to create safe working environments for our workers. The application of what I learned at this Certified Renovator lead seminar will allow us to continue to do that.

As I generally do on our trips I examine buildings and architecture along the way. In Hayward I found a Carnegie Library put to new use. Like many small towns Hayward was given funds from the Andrew Carnegie foundation to construct a public library. Some years ago the town outgrew the library and constructed a new library in a different location. The old library ended up being sold to an individual who created a place for some retail shops. I was very impressed with the adapted reuse for the old Carnegie library.

Bayfield has many beautiful older homes on the hillside overlooking the lake. This home has very detailed carpentry on the roof and siding. The bay window on the gable end comes to a gentle point. The shingle siding flows in and around the window in a very graceful pattern.

On the another gable end the siding was installed in a manner that creates a diamond pattern in the center of the gable. The detailing on the roof overhang was also very nice, bending and flowing with the roof itself in all areas. I can appreciate the amount of time it took to create these homes. I can also appreciate the effort that current owners take to preserve and maintain these lovely details.

We took a ferry out to Madeline Island, a 20 minute ride across the lake from Bayfield. Only about 200 people permanently live on the island but that swells to about 3,000 when temporary summer residents join them. Here I found an old log house. The log corners were fit together tight and true using a dovetail detail. Many of the Apostle Islands were logged in the late 1800’s and the residents created log structures like this one, now in use as part of their museum.

We held our annual summer picnic last night at a member’s rural home. The rain held up and the sun came out. It was a beautiful evening to be out overlooking the area corn and soybean fields, while enjoying good conversation with fellow Rotarians. Our dinner was catered by the folks at the Quarterback Club in Northfield.

Our Northfield Rotary club is very active in sending high school students to other countries to experience living in a different culture. We also host exchange students from other countries. Last night we recognized some of the students that had been with us for the past year. We also recognized our ‘out-going’ students and those that had recently returned from their year away. What a great program!

We had a good group of vendors in the show again this year. Ellen and I were there for much of the day staffing the Northfield Construction booth. We had some special pricing on window replacements allowing homeowners to generate significant savings, as well as receive tax credits through new government programs. If the windows in your home need attention, now is definitely the time to address them.

Jesse Streitz and his crew were at the show dressed in Hawaiian shirts…reminding everyone that it will soon be warm here. Streitz Heating, as well as Better-Air, talked to lots of people about the government stimulus package that provides excellent tax credits for new energy efficient heating and cooling equipment.

Gary Kes has been a regular vendor at the Home and Garden show. He and Pauline had a full line of equipment on display. Lampert Lumber Yard has also been a very consistent vendor at the show, and were there this year showing lots of new materials and products.

A new vendor at the show was Cannon River Tree Care. This firm handles removal of trees as well as pruning and general tree care services. I was impressed with the huge bar on the chain saw they had on display. I know I would not want to be operating such a saw!

Thanks to everyone that helped organize this year’s Home and Garden Show, and to everyone that stopped by to visit us at our booth.

There was a good crowd of area business owners at the event. A fine lunch was served to everyone. We heard from Governor Pawlenty for about 30 minutes. He outlined some of the challenges facing Minnesota with our $5 billion budget shortfall.

One of the most difficult areas is the health and human service division. It was projected to increase by roughly 20 percent…and that is on top of 22 percent in the previous biennium. That level of increase is very hard for the state to deal with. The Governor also expressed his support for setting priorities when the budget must be reduced. His budget proposal protects K-12 school, veterans and public safety from reductions. The Governor does not support across the board reductions in all divisions, a feature that he feels is simply mechanical and does not reflect Minnesota priorities.

After the Governor concluded his remarks there were time for several questions from the audience. The questions ranged from how to deal with the roller coaster budgets, to ‘green acres’ changes, and uses of local government aid.

It was great to hear directly from the Governor about these important issues and to know that he is working hard to support Minnesota’s businesses and job growth.

When I left to head back to Northfield I couldn’t help but stop and snap a photo of this nice old farm house that I pass. It is just outside Dodge Center. Every time I look at it I wonder about the people that lived in it….where they came from, how many children lived in the home, etc. It actually is a very straight old structure that looks to be in pretty good condition for its age, and lacking some windows.

Our class focused quite a bit on the new energy code that Minnesota is adopting. Every time there is a major code change it takes some getting used to the new or revised items. The biggest one in this code is the requirement that radon gas be dealt with. The code establishes approved methods to safely vent radon gas to the exterior. With so many months of frozen ground (not allowing radon to exit the soils) in Minnesota we can find that radon gas finds its way into our homes.

We also talked about a variety of safety issues and how to keep our employees safe on construction sites. A new provision on Minnesota law establishes a precise standard for determining exactly when an individual is an independent contractor working for a licensed building contractor, and when the individual may be considered an employee.